Airbus SAS currently has a 34 percent market share in China with 328 planes in operation there, said Airbus China President Laurence Barron.

This compares to a 7 percent market share ten years ago, with only 29 planes operating, Xinhua said, citing a speech by Barron in Chengdu yesterday. The figures include China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Airbus, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, had 257 aircraft operating in China, Hong Kong and Macau at the end of September 2004, representing about 30 percent of the market, according to Airbus figures.

The plane maker on March 8 forecast that Chinese airlines will purchase 1,790 passenger planes worth $230 billion by 2023 as rising incomes boost demand for air travel.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)